Tuesday, September 15

St. Bride

John Duncan. Saint Bride, 1913. National Gallery of Scotland.

I have yet to ascertain if this image represents an actual event from the life of St. Bridget or a literary work like the Tennyson poem about St. Cecilia that seemed more popular to the Pre-Raphaelites and their academic followers than the saint's true story. The Scottish National Gallery comments, "According to the legend of the Irish Saint Bride [St. Bridget] she was transported miraculously to Bethlehem to attend the nativity of Christ. Here two angels carry the white robed saint across the sea," which explains some of it, though not the saint's almost childlike figure--lovely and sweet and girlish, but hardly the abbess we'd expect. Indeed, she looks more like an Agnes or even a Philomena with a very good dye-job.

But it is a stunning work, combining nearly everything I find attractive in good art, and even much good liturgical art, though this particular work is not really liturgical: clever realistic detail within a hieratic, iconographic framework; bold, but not garish, color; idealised, delicate figures that nonetheless convey a sense of individual personality; and a careful and fairly detailed use of symbolism in unusual but traditional ways, specifically the elaborate biblical scenes embroidered all over the angel's garments. In a liturgical context, many of these could be further developed within the same hybrid stylistic context. My only complaint, besides the puzzling subject-matter, are that the halos don't quite sit properly around the noble heads of the angels; the center-point ought to be somewhere around the ear, or higher, to look right, and more consistent from figure to figure. Still, this is one to turn and return to.

"Go to the encounter with him in the Blessed Eucharist, go to adore him in the churches, kneeling before the Tabernacle: Jesus will fill you with his love and will reveal to you the thoughts of his Heart. If you listen to him, you will feel ever more deeply the joy of belonging to his Mystical Body, the Church, which is the family of his disciples held close by the bond of unity and love."
- Pope Benedict, Message to Dutch Youth

Dan: A perpetual choirmember, seek him where good music or custard are to be found. Contact him at basilique(at)gmail(dot)com

Emily: A graduate of Notre Dame's Philosophy and Latin programs, religious ed expert and Alto at large, she can be reached at emilynd06(at)gmail(dot)com

Matt: A graduate of ND's Architecture School, illustrator, church furnishing designer, and founder of Matthew Alderman Studios, doing entirely too many things at the same time in jolly old New England. Reach him at malderman83(at)gmail(dot)com

Drew: A lover of Jackie Chan and Cuckoo Clocks, he be can contacted at andrew_na(at)hotmail(dot)com

Becket: This Whapster Emeritus and longtime admirer of the Holy Father is enjoying his retirement on the shores of the Missisippi.

Vanitas Vanitatum:

"Cardinal, we're students at the University of Notre Dame in the United States..."
"Ah! Notre Dame!"~Benedict XVI (really)

"The Shrine of the Holy Whapping should be a part of every Christian's daily reading and meditation. Every time you load the page, you find something very much worth thinking about."~Fr. Jim Tucker

Even Weirder

St. Dymphna, protectress of lunatics, pray for us!
"Christianity, and nothing
else is the ultimate foundation
of liberty, conscience,
human rights, and democracy...
We continue to nourish
ourselves from this source.
Everything else is
postmodern chatter."
- Jürgen Habermas

"We desire that this practice... of using distinctive names by which Catholics are marked off from other Catholics, should cease; such names must be avoided... [they] are neither true nor just... they lead to great disturbance and confuse the Catholic body."
- Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum